Daily Archives: March 17, 2012

The Irish and the English have been fighting for centuries, which has led to violence, oppression, terrorism and death. In the short year that Kate Middleton and Prince William have been married, it seems the royal couple have been attempting to take small steps to uniting the two countries through… fashion? It might sound shallow at first, but it seems the prince and princess have been honoring the Emerald Isle all year! Today is St. Patrick’s Day, and in honor of March 17th, Kate Middleton handed out bouquets of shamrocks (the national flower of Ireland) to the Irish Guard (pictured, above). The princess sported a gorgeous belted green Emilia Wickstead coat with chocolate suede pumps and a matching “Betty Boop” hat by Lock and Co. She topped off her look with a gold shamrock brooch, previously used by the Queen Mother and Princess Anne, a bouquet of shamrocks in her lapel, and amethyst and diamond earrings by Kiki McDonough (hmm, a jeweler with an Irish surname). For their enormous wedding last April, Prince William donned the traditional red dress uniform of the Irish Guard. Considering one out of every three people on Earth watched the royal wedding, we have a feeling the prince was trying to make a statement about his respect for Ireland. Last year, William was appointed to the honorary rank of of Colonel of the Irish Guard, and last June the couple handed out operational service medals to the Guards who fought in Afghanistan (pictured, below). Princess Kate has also been sporting Irish designer Orla Kiely quite a bit, lately. Earlier this week, she wore a lovely gray accordion dress while visiting the Dulwich Picture Gallery (pictured, above left). In February, while visiting schools in Oxford, she wore a 1970s walnut-brown bird patterned dress coat by Kiely that sold out within minutes (pictured, above right). While the British-Irish conflict isn’t exactly a problem that will be fixed with clothing, it’s nice to see the young royals making an effort to unite the two cultures with shared traditions and Irish fashion. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Maureen O’Hara is probably the most notable actress from the Emerald Isle, but she happens to be one of our favorite girls, too! (Probably because of that fiery Irish independence and temper that seems to come through in all of her characters!) Here she is in her most famous role as Mary Kate Danaher in the 1952 film The Quiet Man. O’Hara plays an Irish girl who gets married off to an American boxer (played by John Wayne), much to her dismay. Here, Mary Kate is sporting a cream-colored tweed jacket, a navy blue dress, and a greenish-grey tam o’shanter that perfectly complements her enigmatic eyes and gorgeous red locks. Obviously, the two still aren’t seeing eye-to-eye in this particular scene (pictured, below), but they eventually realize they’re made for each other! Fun Fact: Our parents used to leave out our VHS version of The Quiet Man when we were little girls, to make it look as though leprechauns had watched it while we were sleeping the night before March 17th! Happy St. Patrick’s Day, and Erin Go Bragh!